Monday Monograms

via Full House

Thornton Designs

Morning y'all! I decided I don't have enough monograms in my house to accurately reflect my southern style.  I don't know why.  Maybe it's because I haven't found a good monogram person in Kansas City.  I'm going to deal with this little sitch in my new house.  In addition to the images above, I kind of love this pillow from Number Four Eleven in Savannah:

It would lend itself to a much softer palette in my family room, which I'm not totally sure I want.  I tend to get bored with too much neutral, but it's so pretty.  Just a thought.  Enjoy your day!

Have a Loverly Weekend!

I cannot believe it's already Friday! I'm having a yellow moment.  Love a classic yellow and white stripe poolside.  I had a lovely week with my husband's family, and we have absolutely nothing going on this hot July weekend.  I should enjoy it as things are about to get crazy around here.  Lots of trips coming up and packing for the big move.  For some reason I'm feeling antsy, like I need to do something or spend some money.  Perhaps, it's the heat getting to me.  I need activity ideas.  Go! (but first check out these links)

New front door color contender for the new house: Farrow & Ball Lulworth Blue

My good friend and fabulous Chicago Photographer Giana Sitzes just had a beautiful baby girl - the story behind her name is nothing short of a miracle.  It will give you goosebumples.

My other good friend and Dallas Wedding Planner Paige Chenault is performing her own miracles for homeless children through The Birthday Party Project - and it's fabulous!!  

Cute preppy outfit!

I loved this Raleigh House Tour via Mrs. Meares - lots of blue & white, LOTS of fun

Tartan + Chintz + Tiger = Rawr

Obsessed with these lacquer trays

Oh wait, duh, I'll be watching The Olympics this weekend!

How cute is the US Olympic swim team?!

Designery Things I Like, Part Deux ...

Morning y'all! Super random post today.  Just some things I like here and there.

I love the light fixtures in this blue and white kitchen.

Suellen Gregory via Haus and Home

Love the fresh colors and mix of patterns in this bedroom by the fabulous Phoebe Howard.

Mrs. Howard Personal Shopper

I cannot stop thinking about this lemon sorbet color paired with cream.  It reminds me of the Lemon Love Notes my mom used to make.  This room looks so delicious and happy and elegant (although I'd take the wheels off of that chaise).

via The Handbook Authority

I absolutely love this ping pong table situation happening at the 2012 Coastal Living Ultimate Beach House.

Urban Grace Interiors via The Chipper Chickie

I tried to explain this idea to Kip and he was all, "but how do you know where the lines are?"  To me those lines are irrelevant t unless you're a professional ping pong player.  Just bounce the ball back and forth and if it falls off the table you lose.  No? 

Finally, this lovely vignette from Absolutely Beautiful Things, one of my favorite blogs.  Blogger and Interior Designer Anna Spiro owns the boutique Black & Spiro in Brisbane, Australia and her blog alone has me dying to visit.  I love everything she designs.

Speaking of Australia, have you ever heard of anyone visiting and not liking it? I mean, I'm pretty sure no on ever in the history of the world has been like, "hmm Australia, not my favorite." Just an observation.  I would love to go there some day. 

Okay y'all, have a lovely day! 

Designery Things I Like

I know, it's a great title.  Unfortunately, no one won my toddler giveaway.  Edward gave me a big hug yesterday and that's pretty much enough to melt my heart so I decided to keep him.  But I am working with about half of my brain now.  Occupational hazard, I guess.  (I jest because I spend most hours of my day trying to snuggle the little man and usually can't bear to be away from him for more than an hour or two.  I actually like him quite a lot)

Anyway, I've been trying to reorganize my Pinterest Boards.  I find myself drawn to certain elements over and over so I thought I'd try organizing some of my inspiration images by elements rather than by room.

And now I'm going to share them with y'all!

* Blue and White *

* Pink Pretties *

* Nooks *

* French Blue * 

* Painted Paper Pretties *

* Chintz *

* Scallops & Pleats * 

* Monograms *

* White & Wood * 

* Antelope *

Good Lord, I love girly things! When I see rooms with these elements, little cartoon hearts form in my eyeballs and cartoon bluebirds fly and tweet around my head.  I should probably add an  * elephants * category.  What else? Maybe a * millwork * category.  Like my brother who once told us, "but I love lots of girls," I love lots of designery things.  We're a family of love.  What are y'all's favorite design elements, colors, details, etc? I'd love to know what makes you swoon! 

Grace

Grace Kelly, 1955 via The Handbook Authority

It's going to be 106 today.  This is what I imagine I look like when it's 106.  I don't sweat. I just glow.  That's all.  Sorry for the lameness, but Grace Kelly's beauty is all I have to offer today.  Because it's supposed to be 106. Oh, I am offering a giveaway today.  An energetic toddler.  All you have to do is comment and I will give him to you.  He comes free with a copy of Kung Fu Panda and a leash.  Just kidding.  Kinda.

Moodboard Monday: Sissy's (Kinda) Big Girl Room

Morning y'all! Last night my Sissy, whom we affectionately call Wizzie, texted me to see if I could put together a little moodboard for her new bedroom.  She just graduated from University of Texas and works for a popsicle company called GoodPops - they are superdelicious guilt-free popsicles that you need to try if they are in your neighborhood grocery stores (check their website for locations).  Anyway, Wizzie is my silly sister, super-girly like me, and loves happiness, glitter and Buddy the Elf.  So here's what I came up with this morning:

She has the budget of a 22 year-old without a trust-fund so I tried to keep it to things that weren't to 'spensive.  Here are some linkies: 

• Monogrammed Hemstitch Euro Sham $46 from TinyTulip.com (great site for monogrammed stuff - I bought some towels for Edward's Bathroom, which you can see on the website, so yeah, we're famous) 
• Pink Giraffe Pillow Cover $34 from Etsy: Festive Home Decor
• Blue Velvet Pillow $75 from Arianna Belle
• Parsons Desk $116 (on sale) from Home Decorators Collection 
• Tufted Arch Headboard $399 from Home Decorators Collection 
• Anthropologie Pipeline Handle $12 for the dresser 
• Brass Etagerie Ikea Hack DIY on Little Green Notebook (the Ikea Vittsjo Units are $70 and spray paint is only about $5) 

The garden stool, art, poodle book ends and ghost chair are already in my sissy's possession so I tried to work with that color scheme while still keeping it fresh and relaxing.  I love an all-white bed.  I would say it's my signature, if I were to have one.  Maybe it's because when we were little our mom (The Suze) would call bedtime Lily White's Birthday Party, thus brainwashing me into believing sheets must be white.  And, y'all, I believe that whole-heartedly.  Lily White Sheets = Bedtime Imperative.  I truly believe there's nothing better than crawling into a crisp white bed after a long day! Have a lovely Monday!

P.S. Bachelor Pad tonight!

Have a Lovely Weekend!

Here's an oldie but goodie from The Suzeday Files.  It looks like a nice respite from the heat.  Next week it's supposed to be over 105 for at least three days! Yikes! I love the heat and it really doesn't bother me, but anything over 105 is just plain dangerous for everyone. Edward has taken to running laps around the house every 20 minutes or so, and the dog just sits and stares at me with her heart-melting intense laser beam puppy dog eyes.  If I had half of Edward's energy and a quarter of the dog's ability to focus on one thing, I would probably be trying out for the Olympics right now.

On another note, I found my iPhone in the middle of an intersection at the end of my street last night (thanks to Find My iPhone).  I must have left it on the hood of the car or something.  It's slightly cracked, but otherwise still works and my blue and white iPhone case from The Pink Pagoda made it through the whole ordeal unscathed.  So that's all for me.  Ready for the weekend.  Enjoy some linkies:

Considering Farrow & Ball Arsenic for our new front door. 

Here it is on a store front - I love it! 

My friend created a Tour de France inspired playlist for her spin class.  

It's motivating me to start working out again.  I miss it so much! 

Edward thought this video of a girl and a lion was soo funny.

I thought it was sweet and a little scurry

A great roundup of white clapboard houses - my fave!

A whole post devoted to elephants - another fave!

A fab blue and white rehearsal dinner

Apparently, I love the work of Lee Ann Thornton because I love every image in this post.

I'm going to try this gussied up frozen ravioli recipe next week.

Tracery Interiors gives us their favorite white paint colors.

They do some of my favorite white rooms ever 

I love Jamie Meares' new feature "What's So Special About This Room?"

The Art of Packing by Louis Vuitton

Great post on hiring out upholstery

Loved this post on making friends as an adult

read the article & watch the video 

P.S.  I got the "butterflysparkles" text!  The joy it gave me to picture Kip typing it into his phone was more than enough to get me through the three hours I was spending at the DMV.  I would show you a screen shot for evidence, but I made up an inappropriate rap song about the city in which the DMV is located and I can't edit it out, so just take my word for it ;) 

Library Dining

Morning y'all! Ok this post is for Kip who sometimes has trouble visualizing what's in my head.  Unfortunately, he probably won't see this because he's traveling for work today (he'll be back tonight for all of you murderers and robbers with good design sense).

So here's the deal, our new house has a very traditional layout: formal dining, formal living, family room, kitchen/hearth room.  We are inheriting a very large pine table for the kitchen that seats 10+ (from the amazingly kind and generous current owners).  Somewhere down the line, my thought is to change the formal dining room into a dining library.  We both love libraries way more than eating.  Just kidding.  I love eating.  But I also love a beautiful library and I think that with well-placed furniture the dining library can serve multiple functions.

Par exemple:

Keith Irvine via Cote de Texas

 Antelope, glossy, skirted round table.  This is sort of exactly what I envisioned.  I wish I had a better image of this room.

Mona Hajj

via My Notting Hill

via Pinterest (lemme know if you know the source)

There are tons of examples, but the ones above are my favorites and most closely resemble what is in my head. I love each and every one of those rooms.

* Now here is where I test Kip to see if he's read my blog today.  Kip, if you made it to the end of this post, you have to text me the following secret word: butterflysparkles 

Fancy Pretties

World of Interiors 

via here

Peter Pennoyer Architects via Tartanscot

Garden Room Style via The Peak of Chic

Mario Buatta

Winfield House

Winfield House

The writing room at Ditchley Park, the home of Nancy Lancaster

Elsie de Wolfe

de Gournay

You know what's not fancy?  The t-shirt I'm wearing, that I also wore yesterday and the night before.  I know.  But I think I have the strep - totally self-diagnosed, when you become a mom, you become a doctor.  We also have a neighbor whose house alarm goes off every night at 1 and again at 3.  It's been going on for two weeks and we can't figure out who it is because it only lasts about 10 minutes - not long enough to get dressed and walk up and down the block.  I sort of want to pay a college kid to do a stake out because there's no way I can stay up until 1 a.m.  I could pay him in Pizza Rolls and Jagermeister.  I wonder if the people who own these rooms have ever had Pizza Rolls? Probs not.   

Have a lovely day! 

Fab Pool House

* images via The Foo Dog Ate My Homework

Blue and White done goooood.  Real Gewd. 

I have a sore throat, swollen glands and an earache today so this is like Heaven for me.  It's so weird that this is not my pool house.  It's also weird that I'm 31 and have an earache.

Moodboard Monday: New Master Bedroom

Morning y'all! Over the weekend I found two pillows in this gorgeous blue and white Sanderson Pagoda River Fabric.  When I laid my eyeballs on this beautiful chinoiserie, I knew it was the perfect starting point for the new master bedroom.  I imagine it was like when Tom Cruise first met Katie Holmes and said to himself, "she's the one, for the next five years." Praise Xenu.  Finally.  A direction.  Most of you know I've been struggling with what to do for awhile.  

So I fashioned a nice little inspiration board to help me come up with a scheme.

We are basically starting from scratch in this room.  The sellers are giving us the headboard that you can't really see in the image (I know, they're super awesome).  It's really pretty carved wood. They are also leaving the cornices which I may recover with white linen and line with pretty blue trim.  As you can see above we have a sitting room as well (pinch me!) The walls are covered in a navy blue wallpaper that isn't bad but I'd love to paint it all minty blue.

Like this library belonging to Ali Wentworth & George Stephanopoulos:

So that's where I am in my head.

Have a lovely Monday!

P.S. We need a new washing machine.  Any recs? I know nothing about washers and I can guarantee you anything will be better than what we have at the moment.  Thanks!!

Have a Lovely Weekend Y'all!

via Pinterest (sorry) 

How much fun does that look?! Total genius move there.  I hope to have some fun this weekend.  We've been exhausted and sick this week and have been stuck in doors.  My friend Jenny at MFAMB posted this week about how summer isn't the same as it used to be, carefree and easy and a time to use your imagination (you can read it here, it will leave you nostalgic for your childhood summers).  So this picture is for her because I know she likes pools where the grass meets the water and because I don't want her to stop blogging altogether.  Her post also made me grateful for the neighborhood we live in.  Say what you will about Kansas City (I used to think very little of it before I visited), but it is a wonderful place to live and to raise your kids.  Even though we're technically in the 'burbs we're still only about 10 - 15 minutes from downtown.  Our new neighborhood has a farm with a ladder on the fence so the kids can climb over and play (as long as there's no cows) and I see kids playing outside and walking up and down the street as late as 9 o'clock at night.  It's one of my favorite things about summer here! Anyway, I hope y'all have a chance to get outdoors and swim or play.  If you find yourself stuck inside, check out my totally random links for this week:

THANK YOU for all of the advice on the chandelier sitch! Y'all are the best! I'm thinking of going to Goodwill to find some brass stuff on which to practice different techniques. 

 I'm intrigued by this technique I found on (where else?) Pinterest - they had me at french. 

I have been using this night cream since I got back from Sea Island and it's a miracle worker! 

Beautiful description of a summer dream escape when life gets hectic. 

plus one of my favorite blue and white rooms 

Summer Children

Love this blue and white chinoiserie bathroom

Cookie monster singing call me maybe = special bonding moment between Edward and me 

Love these blue and white tops

Guess what y'all? You don't always have to make your bed! 

Sitting pretty indeed

only the most perfectest post ever 

P.S. I just have to document this somewhere, but Edward saw a cat for the the first time the other day (at least I'm pretty sure it was the first time judging by his reaction) and he literally started laughing hysterically like an old man, like shoulders shaking up and down, deep guffaw.  

Pattern Love: Pierre Frey's Toile de Nantes

Morning y'all!  While I'm on the topic of patterns and fabrics I lurve (see yesterday's post on Schumacher's Gordian Weave by Kelly Wearstler), here's another one of my faves: Pierre Frey Toile de Nantes.  

Here it is in Aerin Lauder's East Hampton home: 

 Here it is used in an entryway of a New York apartment by Celerie Kemble:

via Tilton Fenwick

Pretty fab shower curtain:

via Mark D. Sikes

Mario Buatta used it all over this canopy, and I love it.

via Elle Decor

I'm pretty sure the fabric on the walls and daybed is the same Pierre Frey Toile de Nantes you see above, but it was credited here as Colefax & Fowler Toile de Vence, so maybe this entire post is wrong thus exposing me as a total amateur fraud. But whatevs, I'm just here to show y'all pretty things.  

And, boy, is it pretty.  

What do y'all think? 

P.S. Thank you, Katie, for the pillow link! 

Pillow Help: Gordian Weave

Morning y'all! Thanks so much for your sweet comments about Edward :) I'm a proud obsessed mama for sure.

Ok so I need some help y'all.  I love the Schumacher Gordian Weave fabric by Kelly Wearstler and I'm pretty set on using it in our new family room. You may remember my working moodboard:

I just can't find anything else I love as much as the Gordian Weave.  My best friend had it in her living room in walnut so that may be part of the reason I love it because it reminds me of her and I miss her.

The fabric is not cheap so I'm saving my monies to buy it if I have to have pillows made, but if y'all come across any pillows in this fabric please let me know!! Any size. I can make it work. I will reward you.  I don't know how yet, but I will find a way.  Autographed picture of Edward?